"GPs will spend more time delivering services and talking to patients, rather than chasing patient records."

Leading medical groups have been calling for government funding and support to assist the adoption of the PCEHR system, but the government has previously ruled out rebates to cover the cost of creating and maintaining records on behalf of patients.

In a joint statement this month, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Australian Medical Association, the Australian General Practice Network and three rural doctors' organisations, unanimously "expressed concern about the lack of preparation for practical implementation" before the July 1 start-date.

At the same time we have the Department of Health Secretary out and about wanting a measured uptake.

DoHA expects ‘measured’ PCEHR adoption rate

Posted Wed, 21/03/2012 - 23:18 by Mark Jones

The federal government’s incoming ehealth System Operator has revealed she is expecting consumers will not rush to sign up for personally controlled electronic health records, and has not set target rates for adoption.

Jane Halton, secretary at the Department of Health and Ageing and PCEHR System Operator from July 1, pending legislation, also said more than 1.4 million consumer identities were registered in the PCEHR system via the wave sites where the ehealth system is being trialled.

Speaking exclusively to eHealthspace.org ahead of her appearance at Health-e-Nation 2012, Ms Halton said: “I do not expect that the entire nation will opt in on 1 July, and actually we don’t want that.”

“What we actually want is for gradual adoption, to have a measured approach to the deployment of ehealth,” she said. However, DoHA will target certain groups for early adoption, such as people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent and people with chronic health conditions, Ms Halton said.

Sorry, I am really struggling with the mixed messages. As a commenter said this morning to a previous blog.

“Re the Security/Privacy stipulations for Practices - add this to the draconian OH&S regimen, all the other MBS and "business" stuff that has to be done, and when exactly do the staff and clinicians actually see patients and do what they trained for? Beggars belief that Government stands up and says they will reduce red tape, and they do this!”

Paul Fitzgerald.

Canberra want fast and slow, to reduce red tape and to add it, involve GPs and punish them and so it goes on all at the same time.

The old saying that someone could not ‘organise a beer fest in a brewery with a fist full of fivers’ seems highly applicable.

The Minister and Bureaucrats need to get out into the real world and stop just making GPs lives more difficult if they want help with such initiatives.